I Am in Awe of this Team Now
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Good scorers go through periods where they miss shots. Good players always play hard.
That’s a big deal.
Newman has been playing hard. His shot has been off for reasons I can’t quite diagnose, but he’s been working in the other aspects of the game.
He’s grabbing 4.5 rebounds per game. For his struggles, his shooting percentages are still holding steady. He hasn’t gotten to the rim like I expected, but he’s been very solid. Remember, at MSU, he averaged less than 3 rebounds and just 2.2 assists per game. He’s exceeding both those figures at KU, all while shooting a higher percentage.
I think part of his struggle is that he hasn’t yet found the best driving lanes. Once he does that, look out. Remember those 30 point explosions from the EuroTrip? That’s coming, people. Be warned, Big XII - Malik Newman is coming. He just hasn’t done it yet, but some unsuspecting team is going to experience Newman slashing them to shreds. He already has more blocks and more steals than he did at MSU.
Newman is a player trying to stay within the team, but he will explode at some point.
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@HighEliteMajor I’m not overlooking it. I said before, that when you have 4 players that give up points, having a 5th guy who doesn’t is useless. Right now we play a style of basketball that is basically attempting to outscore the opponent instead of stopping them from scoring.
You just have a love for Garrett that makes you blind. His stats vs. P5 competition are absolutely atrocious. As has been the eye test. The double whammy.
He looks like an absolute stud in the future. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not sure he won’t leave Lawrence one of the All-time best defenders or one of the top 5 in steals. But he is such a liability on offense right now. Against teams with real talent, he turns the ball over more than he assists, he rebounds at a pedestrian rate, and he shoots as well as a blind archer.
He is the perfect guy to have off the bench to give the team some life or send a message. He will come in and hustle and do little things and not screw things up. But he isn’t going to win us games.
I hope you’re right and I’m wrong. But nothing from Garrett has shown me that will change this season.
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@justanotherfan His shot is off because his shot has been flat.
Noticed last game his 3pt shot was flat. He had really nice arch on his mid range jumpers he was hitting. But he kept going off the front iron with a flat shot last game.
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@drgnslayr and @Kcmatt7
The team would clearly be better at a faster pace, but losses of Preston, and all the other guys that didn’t join, or rejoin the team, make playing any faster unfeasible IMHO.
With the starting 5 playing 35-40 minutes against any decent competition, and Self trying to hedge the wear and tear of a long season, it means Self is having the team rest on the floor the way he did during the 2012 season with 6-7 guys. Self is trying to shorten games with Devonte walking it as much as possible until the last 10. Alas, the habit sometimes carries over into the last ten making them less dynamic than they should be. Self is also apparently having them walk it to try to keep Udoka on the floor as much as possible. The object is to let Udoka cruise up floor rather than run, and then set up and take a few breaths while the ball gets passed, or weaved without him a considerable length of time. We will not likely see pace pick up much until both the existing bench gets to where it can play about double the minutes its playing now, and Preston and DeSousa show up.
Regarding Preston and De Sousa, a friend of mine in Lawrence suggests there is finally some real optimism being rumored in Lawrence about Preston and De Sousa playing shortly. No factual back up for that. Just what I heard from someone else that says that’s what he heard.
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@jaybate-1.0 Bill Said something after the game. Said he hopes this was the last game they had to play small.
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“Self is trying to shorten games with Devonte walking it as much as possible until the last 10”
Correctimundo!
Evidently, DeSousa passed his ACT or we wouldn’t be waiting for the next step to be completed. Self did everything but say he would become eligible.
Billy… I think will become eligible, too, but faces a short restriction from game action, and most of what he has already done will count. So he should be eligible probably right after Texas or the game after that. They will need to watch that kid the entire time he is in Lawrence. He’s been in trouble TWICE now, without even playing a game. He is a good kid, but just needs constant guidance.
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All fingers and toes I have are crossed and I am saying this prayer each night:
“Now I lay me down to sleep
Praying for our bigs to keep
Themselves in silks of red and blue
Or white that somewhere, someplace have KU!!!
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@jaybate-1.0 More so for Billy… De Sousa will be a two month long project. If we get De Sousa and no Billy, KU could end up the most dangerous 4 seed the tournament has seen in a long time.
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Preston and Cunliffe have been with the programs for a while now and should blend in quickly; Silvio will definitely take longer.
The upside of this is that KU will continue to get better with the additions and hopefully fly under the radar and peak around Tournament time.
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Seamless transitions to D1 starter DO NOT HAPPEN for even the best first year bigs.
More broadly, NOTHING good happens quickly in basketball, or life. It only happens suddenly, after a ton of hard work and preparation and work at fitting in.
De Sousa has put in zero hard work and preparation under Self. He has not tried to play with teammates and learn their tendencies, much less the plays. ZERO. ZIP. NADA.
Preston put in a preseason conditioning program, then a boot camp, and played ball with the team daily and he was ready to be—drumroll please—an unimpressive sub against weak competition for 15 mpg…before vehicular issues with, um, law enforcement.
Let’s keep this in perspective, shall we?
The greatest big man prospect since JABBAR—Joel Embiid—took a quarter to a half a season to hit his stride even given a very limited job description.
Josh Jackson played, but took a third of a season to really get in the flow.
KU will be lucky to get a solid 20 mpg from Preston backing up 5 and 4 spots by February. He is a scorer who has been protected from physical play his whole life and has never been forearm smashed by a blue meanie in Morgantown.
De Sousa will be a 10 mpg type for two months, unless injury forces him into a baptism of
. I will say De Sousa looks strong and solid, so Self might expose him to smash mouth a little sooner.Frankly, Sosinski might see more time than either of them, when the going gets tough in places like Morgantown.
Board rats gotta remember: this is a very violent game within 15 feet of iron and very fast in transition for newbie big men.
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Are you talking specifically about KU freshman bigs or freshman bigs accross the country?
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For the first few weeks Self will be looking at him for help on rebounding, defense, setting screens, and an additional capable Big to give room to Dok. It will allow Dok to play more aggressively without worrying too much about fouling.
Knowing that team only has 7 players is taking a physical and mental toll on players and I believe having him on the bench will provide some emotional relief.
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All the OAD bigs I can recall had rough stretches of transition early on to D1 Team play.
The scorers could score, but they had trouble fitting with the Team and vice versa.
A few had so much MUA that the team won despite the rough early transition.
But I don’t recall any that just stepped in and fitted seamlessly with their teams.
Persons forget how much UK and Duke in their long stack years struggled early with young OADs adapting. They won because of huge MUA, but played very fitfully early on.
Do you recall thing differently?
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I just saw an X FILES promo for episodes in January.
I want to believe!
Maybe if Self hired Mulder and Scully as Belief and Skepticism Conditioning coaches?
Also, get ready for a rumored psyops wave of ACTUAL fake ambiguous news announcements about military discovery of alien life. NYT already reputedly ran one a day or two ago. It appears the new XFILES installments last year and this have been slotted for predictive programming reinforcement!!!
Too much woke.
The bots and shills aren’t turning the tide.
It’s 1947 and NatSecAct and Roswell 2.0.
Mix with something traumatic to NorKor, or Iran.
Shake well.
Poor and garnish with paranoia.
Grab popcorn.
Watch fake evidence.
Enjoy!!!
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@drgnslayr Devonte walking it up - some announcer said it best the other day - “They’re playing NOT to lose”.
Same thing as a “PREVENT” Defense in football.
They prevent you from winning.
Play the damn game the same way you did when you were building the 30 point lead.
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They want to play a 10 minute game.
You need a full roster to play 40.
KU reaches the Finals playing 10 minute games in 2012.
Maybe he should red shirt everyone but the starters?
That might get them the ring!!!
Less is more!
Just kidding.
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Having no scouting report, if we get Preston and Silvio by Big 12 play, Self can make lives of opposing coaches quite difficult by throwing in different line ups, mixing and matching them with Dok. It will be fun to see how this all shakes out.
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I think we are using this “lack of depth” topic as a crutch.
I seem to remember several National Champions that only ran 7 players, including one UCONN team that would have LOVED to have our single Doke in their post as their post option.
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@drgnslayr I agree! In fact, I’ve often thought “lack of depth” is a big advantage. You don’t have to worry about getting players minutes and interrupting the flow of the game. I also don’t buy the idea of 18-20 year old kids getting tired during the two hours it takes to play a basketball game.
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A crutch? yes.
But that is what you use, when your leg is broken, or a knee is blown.
The crutch will be set aside when/if the bench lengthens, and in March, regardless, when we are not facing two months of 2 in 3 sets.
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Well I would look to this years freshman OAD bigs, lots of guys having zero issue transitioning.
Bagley & Carter at Duke are playing great. Carter was a little slow to begin with but had 27 in their win last night. Bagley is 2nd in freshman scoring behind Trae Young and has shown widely why he will be a Top 5 pick in the upcoming draft.
Then we have Ayton at Arizona, arguably their best player, has been dominant and a Top 5 pick next June.
McCoy at UNLV averaging close to 20 and 10 and backing up his ranking with no issue.
Bamba at Texas has been exactly what he was advertised as. An elite defensive presence with a raw offensive game that has plenty of long range potential.
Jaren Jackson has been a big part of Michigan St’s Top 5 team so far showing the offensive versatility and defensive abilities that he was known for coming out of school.
PJ Washington & Richards at Kentucky have been solid so far. Both looked more comfortable when I last saw them last weekend against Virginia Tech.
Other then Preston & Vanderbilt who have yet to play a minute this OAD batch has been pretty darn good so far.
Last years class was a mixed bag, some returned due to injury/ineligibility/not ready. Still at least 5 bigs in the top 25 rankings went in the first round last year and had good seasons. 2015 class has a ton of OAD’s who had good freshman years. There will always be some that just don’t progress quick enough. Unfortunately the common theme is that freshman OAD type bigs at KU fall flat on their face. Alexander, Bragg, Diallo all came and went and threw what we thought were promising seasons with them out the door. Preston hasn’t played a game yet, seems to be fitting right in line.
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We’ll have a ton of paper talent next year. Depends on what leaves this years squad but we certainly look to have depth at every position. Perimeter shooting would be the biggest concern regarding next years squad currently. Hence why Self is still out there for a elite wing
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@jaybate-1.0 Yes, but once March comes, won’t every KU player have bruises, strains, or some malady? Quilted knee wraps? All putting KU at a disadvantage against seemingly every possible opponent? Jabbing you a bit.
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I have a hard time always believing the exhaustion excuse, too, especially since these kids recover so quickly.
But there are many factors that must go into this. It isn’t just all the court time they play. Their schedules are stuffed, between academics, practices, games and, of course, travel. Those road games are a bear!
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Let me respond on three levels.
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The players you mention are playing well 10-12 games in; that’s a month and a half. Our guys will begin to be effective in that length of time. Mid February.
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De Sousa is probably not as highly ranked as many of the players you mention.
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Preston is highly ranked, but historically the only highly ranked bigs KU signs have admissions and developmental baggage that other elite schools do not experience. Self would not be signing baggage carousel specials, if he could get the other type, right?
Great players can step KU never gets the
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If Self had the quality and quantity of Nike Power talent that the Nike schools get, my guess is our injury , wear and tear, seeding, and whistle issues would equate very “symmetrically” with Nike programs, like Oregon.
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jaybate 1.0 said:
Let me respond on three levels.
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The players you mention are playing well 10-12 games in; that’s a month and a half. Our guys will begin to be effective in that length of time. Mid February.
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De Sousa is probably not as highly ranked as many of the players you mention.
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Preston is highly ranked, but historically the only highly ranked bigs KU signs have admissions and developmental baggage that other elite schools do not experience. Self would not be signing baggage carousel specials, if he could get the other type, right?
Great players can step KU never gets the
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Your right its early still.
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De Sousa was once a top 5 player in his class. He didn’t play a ton of AAU ball which usually helps one maintain such lofty reputation. It’s not an ideal situation joining midway without any acclimation period like transfers get. Last year Austin Whiley- a Top 20 2018 kid joined Auburn’s squad mid-year and did pretty well. Wasn’t dominate but he definitely helped them. It’s about as close of a comparison as there is. Obviously Auburn isn’t KU and De Sousa’s role will likely be determined on how much Self can trust him.
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I don’t know if its bad luck or recruiting the wrong players. It’s a awful trend though that needs to stop
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